1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the information transmission field. More particularly, the present invention relates to the indication of resource allocation of multiple serving zones.
2. Description of the Related Art
“Wireless+broadband” technologies have become a development trend of network, and there is severe competition between varieties of wireless communication systems in the broadband wireless access field. World Interoperability for Microwave Access Forum (WiMAX) is a remarkable broadband wireless access system, and has been in a scale test phase even in a commercial phase in Europe, America, Japan and Korea. The WiMAX system offers several advantages, including, a large coverage scope, a high transmission rate, support for high-speed movement, a high spectrum efficient, a high networking speed, and a low constructing cost. In addition to the popularity of trial-commercial or commercial actions, the WiMAX system will have a nice development foreground.
Along with increasing user requirements, multimedia services will be applied to Mobile Stations (MSs) frequently in the future, and the WiMAX system is very favorable to the development of streaming services. Along with the development of future mobile streaming services, the flux of a multicast service may be obviously higher than the flux of a unicast service in one MS.
The WiMAX access network bears Multicast and Broadcast Services (MBSs) through a common wireless connection. Two MBS access modes are defined in IEEE 802.16e: a single Base Station (BS) access mode and a multi BS access mode. The single BS access mode is implemented by MBS connections in one BS. For example, the MBS is operated separately in each BS, and in the BS, all MSs adopt the same Connection IDentifier (CID) for bearing MBS data and adopt the same Security Association (SA) parameter corresponding to the connection. Each involved MS receives data corresponding to the CID through a MAC layer and processes the data. In the multi BS access mode, multiple BSs constitute one MBS zone (e.g., referred to as MBS_Zone or E-MBS_Zone), each E-MBS zone has a unique zone identifier (e.g., referred to as E-MBS_Zone_ID). BSs in the same MBS_Zone synchronously transmit MBS data, and transmit a certain service flow by using the same MSTID and FID, so that the involved MSs can get effects from a macro diversity. The MSs obtains information of the MBS_Zone from broadcast information of the BSs. Each BS having an E-MBS capability belongs to a certain E-MBS zone, and one BS may belong to multiple MBS_Zones. In the multi BS access mode, a macro diversity mode may be adopted to improve receiving performance. In the macro diversity mode, BSs in the same MBS zone are required to synchronously transmit the same data by using the same frequency, symbol, sub-channel and modulation mode, which make an MS receive MBS data from multiple BSs at the same time, thereby improving the receiving reliability and receiving quality.
The mapping of an E-MBS zone on an air interface is resources occupied by the E-MBS zone, such as, for example, Resource Units (RUs) occupied by the E-MBS zone in a superframe/frame/subframe, which include one or more Physical Resource Units (PRUs), Continuous Resource Units (CRUs), Discrete Resource Units (DRUs) and Logical Resource Units (LRUs). The CRU may be divided into subband CRUs and miniband CRUs. If there is no confusion, the mapping of the E-MBS zone on the air interface is also called as the E-MBS zone.
As described above, one BS may belong to multiple E-MBS zones at the same time. In the macro diversity mode, the BSs in the same MBS zone are required to transmit the same data at the same time by using the same frequency, symbol, sub-channel and modulation mode. Thus, a transmitter similar to the BS in an information transmission system will transmit services of multiple serving zones to which the transmitter belongs, and the resources allocated to the serving zones need to be indicated and differentiated. For example, in BSs in an IEEE 802.16 communication system, there are multiple E-MBS zones.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the a distribution of multiple serving zones and the an allocation of transmission resources according to the related art. For example, FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram illustrating two E-MBS zones according to the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, three BSs constitute two E-MBS zones, a BS 1 and a BS 2 belong to an E-MBS zone 1, and the BS 2 and a BS 3 belong to an E-MBS zone 2. Because the E-MBS zone 1 and the E-MBS zone 2 overlap partially, the two E-MBS zones cannot occupy the same resources on the air interface. A typical resource allocation mode is shown in the right of FIG. 1. The right of FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram illustrating resource use on the air interface during transmission. The resources occupied by the E-MBS zone 1 on the air interface are indicated by a black zone, and the resources occupied by the E-MBS zone 2 on the air interface are indicated by a slash zone. The E-MBS zone on the BS 1 occupies the resources indicated by a black zone, the E-MBS zones on the BS 2 occupy the resources indicated by the black zone and the slash zone, and the E-MBS zone on the BS 3 occupies the resources indicated by the slash zone. Because the number of BSs constituting one E-MBS zone is optional, it can be leaned based on FIG. 1 that it is difficult to determine the number of E-MBS zones and the resource occupying state is very complex when there are multiple BSs in an actual system.
In the related art, in order to indicate resources occupied by multiple serving zones in a transmitter of an information transmission system, it is needed to indicate the number of multiple serving zones and to indicate a start point and an end point of each serving zone.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a resource allocation of multiple serving zones according to the related art. For example, FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram illustrating system resources which can be allocated logically.
Referring to FIG. 2, generally, the resources may be numbered orderly from 0 or 1. For example, the resources may be numbered as resources 0-18 or as resources 1-19 shown in FIG. 2. Because one serving zone may occupy one of or all of the resources, in order to indicate the serving zone, at least 5 bits are needed to indicate the start point of the serving zone, and at least 5 bits are needed to indicate the end point of the serving zone. Accordingly, a total of 10 bits are needed. If the number of serving zones to be indicated is between 1 and 8, 3 bits are needed to indicate the total number of serving zones. In this way, when the number of serving zones is 8, 10 bits are needed to indicate the start point and end point of each serving zone, and thus the overhead is 3+8*10=83 bits.
Therefore, in the information transmission system, in order to use multiple serving zones to provide services, a resource allocation indication method is required, which can indicate the allocation of multiple resource units between multiple serving zones, and which can decrease the overhead of resource allocation indication.
Therefore, a need exists for a system and method for generating a resource allocation indication message.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present invention.